State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, attends a Senate Education Committee hearing held at the Pennsylvania Capitol on May 24, 2022, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (photo by Amanda Berg for the Capital-Star).
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State senator and former GOP candidate for governor Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia.
Mastriano said in post on social media site X that he will continue to serve in the Pennsylvania Senate pending his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
“I am deeply honored and humbled by President Trump’s nomination as United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic,” Mastriano wrote. “If confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to representing our nation abroad, strengthening the friendship between our two countries and advancing the interests of the American people.”
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Mastriano has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In addition to repeating false claims about the outcome (Democrat Joe Biden won the election), Mastriano unsuccessfully urged the Pennsylvania Legislature to overturn the commonwealth’s popular vote, hosted Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Partisan States in Gettysburg weeks after the 2020 election, attended the Jan. 6 rally that led to a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, and spent campaign money on transportation of fans to Washington, DC the day also.
He was later subpoenaed by a U.S. House committee on January 6, ultimately agreeing to a voluntary interview interrogated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with his activities around the 2020 elections. The video shows him passing police lines and crowds on the east side of the building, although Mastriano he later said “I respect all police lines when I meet them…police lines change throughout the day.”
He was never charged with a crime related to this.
Mastriano was the Republican Party’s candidate for governor in 2022, but lost to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro by nearly 15 points.
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Mastriano had teased the possibility of another run in 2026, but after the Pennsylvania Republican Party and key GOP officials endorsed state Treasurer Stacy Garrity months before the primary, Mastriano announced that he would not run for this position again this year.
That hasn’t stopped some of his staunch supporters from mounting a long-term buy-in campaign. Effort organizer said LancasterOnline the goal is, in part, to send a signal of disapproval to the state Republican Party over its early support of Garrity. The group’s website claims so support from Mastriano himself.
Neither Mastriano’s spokesman nor Ernie Springer, organizer of the Mastriano write-in campaign, immediately responded to requests for comment.
Mastriano’s nomination will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
